Georgian Association statement regarding illegal detention of Dr. Vazha Gaprindashvili

The Georgian Association in the United States, Inc. is alarmed and expresses its deep concern with the rising tensions and expansion of the humanitarian crisis at the occupation line of Georgia’s Russian-controlled Tskhinvali region (South Ossetia).

On November 9, 2019, the occupation regime illegally detained Dr. Vazha Gaprindashvili, a well-known Georgian physician and president of the Georgian Association of Orthopedic Traumatologists. On November 15, 2019 he was sentenced to two months of pretrial detention. Dr. Gaprindashvili was detained while providing urgent medical help to a gravely injured local resident of the occupied Akhalgori district. The story of the patient’s condition and refusal of the Russian-controlled de facto authorities in Tskhinvali to transport the patient to Tbilisi has been widely reported. Following the arbitrary closure of the Mosabruni checkpoint by the de facto authorities in September of 2019, the local population has become totally isolated resulting in several deaths due to lack of access to adequate medical care.

The detention of Dr. Vazha Gaprindashvili while fulfilling his duty as a doctor runs counter to all internationally recognized human rights.

The Georgian Association calls on US government representatives to:

– actively support efforts of the Georgian Government and International community to achieve the prompt release of Dr. Gaprindashvili from illegal custody;
– work with all sides involved to overcome the humanitarian crisis in the occupied territories and ensure local residents’ access to qualified medical care;